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BUSINESS Wednesday 22 May 2019
A25

Millennial Money: If 'budget' bums you out, try renaming it

By KELSEY SHEEHY nition, empowering.
NerdWallet FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS
Associated Press "Nobody wakes up excit-
Webster's New World dic- ed about a budget," Bell
tionary defines budget as: says. But you can certainly
"a plan or schedule adjust- get excited about buying
ing expenses during a cer- a house, attending your
tain period to the estimat- friend's destination wed-
ed or fixed income for that ding or living it up in retire-
period." ment. Whatever the goal,
If that doesn't sound fun, I use your spending plan
don't know what does. (I'm as a means to achieve it.
kidding. It sounds terrible.) That way, you can break
By definition alone, bud- big expenses up over time
geting sounds like a chore. to make them more man-
So it's no surprise that many ageable. And evaluate
people hear the word "bud- any purchases (outside of
get" and think: Constraints. necessities like food, shelter
Restrictions. Hassle. And it's and bills) against that goal.
even less of a surprise, then, Keeping the money you
that most people simply put toward your goals in a
don't do it. separate account will help
Only 33% of American In this June 15, 2018 file photo, cash is fanned out from a wallet in North Andover, Mass. you easily see your progress
adults follow a budget, ac- Associated Press (and make you less tempt-
cording to an October 2017 ed to dip into that fund for
survey of Americans from own phrase — maybe gan says, but it contributes tive. something else).
NerdWallet . The time and money map or financial to the negative connota- Try to start tracking your DON'T START WITH RESTRIC-
effort involved are often freedom scheme speaks tions. Because reacting income and expenses be- TIONS
cited as the reasons, but to you. Whatever helps you rarely feels empowering, fore there's a problem. So, Yes, a spending plan in-
trying and failing is also a envision the goal: to know but taking control does. So when one arises, you're volves limits. But those
barrier. In a separate study what's coming in and go- try your best to be proac- ready for it. That is, by defi- come in later.q
from Northwestern Mutual, ing out, and adjust where
79% of respondents said needed.
being financially respon- "When you think about it in
sible meant not deviating that way, that's pretty easy
from a budget. to handle," says Vicki Bo-
"When people think 'bud- gan, associate professor of
get,' they think of 'less,'" says finance at SC Johnson Col-
Matt Bell, personal finance lege of Business at Cornell
expert at Matt About Mon- University.
ey. "I'm going to spend less. CHANGE THE TIMING
I'm going to have less fun. Budgets are often reac-
I'm going to have less free- tive. You have a financial
dom." issue — too much debt, not
But it doesn't have to be enough savings, a series of
that way. Taking control of unexpected financial hits
your money can be the op- — and you turn to a bud-
posite of restrictive; it can get as a fix.
actually be freeing, Bell That is the right move, Bo-
says.
"Really, it's about getting
more. More knowledge
about what's happening
in your financial life, so you
can be more intentional
with your money. So you
end up having more for the
things that matter to you."
REFRAME THE CONVERSA-
TION
The word "budget" isn't very
helpful. It doesn't tell you
anything about what you
need to do. And, for many,
it triggers negative associa-
tions. So let's call it some-
thing else.
Bell likes cash flow plan.
Other people prefer spend-
ing plan or expense track-
er. You can even get cre-
ative with it and coin your